Title: MISUSED AND MISSPELLED WORDS
1MISUSED AND MISSPELLED WORDS
What, Why, and How?
13
2MISUSED AND MISSPELLED WORDS
WHAT ARE SOME COMMONLY MISUSED AND MISSPELLED
WORDS?
As English teachers who read a lot of essays, we
see some words that are regularly used
incorrectly, and we see some words that are
commonly misspelled. Here are lists to help you
avoid these errors.
COMMONLY MISUSED WORDS
a lot - Two words! We know this is listed under
misused words as well but it is misspelled a lot!
accommodate - This word is large enough to
accommodate both a double "c" AND a double
"m."argument - Let's not argue about the loss
of this verb's silent e before the suffix
-ment.committed - If you are committed to
correct spelling, you will remember that this
word doubles its final t
from "commit" to "committed."conscience - Don't
let misspelling this word weigh on your
conscience.conscientious - Work on your
spelling conscientiously.conscious - Try to be
conscious of all the vowels after the sc in
this word's ending.definite (ly) - This word
definitely gets confused as having an a in the
middle but there are es on the ends and is in
the middle.grammar If youre pointing out
errors in grammar, then be sure not to end this
word in er.independent - Please be
independent but not in your spelling of this
word. It ends in -ent.indispensable - Knowing
that this word ends on -able is indispensable to
good writing.
3MISUSED AND MISSPELLED WORDS
COMMONLY MISUSED WORDS -- Continued
mischievous - This mischievous word holds two
traps i before e and o before u. Four of
the five vowels in English reside here.misspell
- What is more embarrassing than to misspell the
name of the problem? Just remember that it is mis
spell and that will dispel your worry about
spelling "misspell."noticeable - The e is
noticeably retained in this word to indicate the
c is "soft," pronounced like s. Without the
e, it would be pronounced "hard," like k, as
in "applicable."occasionally - Writers
occasionally tire of doubling so many consonants
and omit one but this word has 2 cs in the front
and 2 ls in the back.occurrence - Remember not
only the occurrence of double double consonants
in this word, but that the suffix is -ence, not
-ance. No reason, just the English language
keeping us on our toes.perseverance - All it
takes is perseverance and you, too, can be a
(near-) perfect speller. The suffix is -ance for
no reason at all.playwright - Since they write
plays, they should be "play-writes," right?
Wrong. Remember that a play writer in Old English
was called a "play worker" and "wright" is from
an old form of "work" (wrought iron, etc.)weird
- This word is an exception to the rule about i
before e except after...? So, rules can be
broken!
4that concludes
13
MISUSED AND MISSPELLED WORDS